Friday, 20 March 2015

EGX RETROSPECTIVE & UPDATE

Last weekend I took a hike to Tobacco Dock in east London for EGX Rezzed, to check out the games on show and meet with developers. Among the offerings I particularly wanted to look at was Fireproof Games’ BAFTA winning puzzler The Room, Team17’s Penarium (a game whose progress I’ve been following with great interest over the past year), plus the rather fine-looking platformer Poncho from Rising Star.

The weekend was also an opportunity to see in the flesh in the metal the magnificent dystopian mech-epic shooter Beyond Flesh & Blood, currently in development by Manchester-based studio Pixelbomb. That’s certainly one to watch; it looked fabulous even before I learned of the new version they’re putting together in UE4, which makes for an even more scintillating experience. I met Eduardo, in from Valajallajadueeddjjjjaos some place in Spain, who introduced me to his concept game that takes board gaming between friends to a new, digital level. And then as you may have seen I got walloped AROUND THE HEAD by cosplay star of the show Barbara-Ian, which was a little uncomfortable, but which admittedly looks great in slo-mo.

In the end it was all OK because I seemed to re-spawn in the bar, where I managed to entrap Mr Dan Marshall of Size Five Games for an ale and a natter ahead of his talk on The Swindle. Which was suitably ‘brillo’, naturally, showcasing the forthcoming steampunk crime caper in glorious technicolour, explaining some of the game’s mechanics – and offering the chance to hear snippets of Toby Evans’ fab soundtrack.

The bruises inflicted by the swing of Barbara-Ian’s mighty weapon may only just be fading but I'm already looking forward to the next EGX event in Birmingham at the end of September.

Last week I was also featured in Waitrose magazine, which was great as while I don’t get any money off fruit and veg or anything like that it is super exposure and I’ve had some lovely comments back as a result. Even though I am doing some kind of funny 'constipated face' thing…

What then is next on the agenda? Well over the past month or so I’ve been lucky enough to work on music for three games, two of which are released this month. Scott Mitchell’s Magma Monsters (iOS & Android) hit the App Store on Thursday, bringing a colourful labyrinthine world to smartphone screens via the incredible work of Adam Foreman, with whom I worked on GunMonkeys. His character art is just ace, please go check out his portfolio at a4man.com, download Magma Monsters here for iOS for free and get bashing those nasties!

Then there’s Not Without My Donuts, a wacky cartoon caper in which you have to pluck sweet treats while evading the clutches of an armada of creepy crawlies. The soundtrack for this was exceptionally fun to do, and the game will be out on the 27th I believe.

I also did a track for videogame reviewer Krames, particularly pleased with this one.

Next up for me is another project for Evilized Games – this one a dark survival thriller for which the soundtrack is swirling and menacing; a project about which I will try and write more in due course. Please do check out my 'back catalogue' and get in touch if you’d like to talk about a soundtrack for your game. Especially if you’re making a space game…